NSF Announces Search for DGE Program Directors
The NSF Division of Graduate Education announces a nationwide search for individuals to serve as Program Directors. The appointments will be made through a rotational program, with an initial appointment for up to two years and possible extension for an additional year by mutual agreement.
Read full description.
Posted on April 27, 2011
AAAS News Features GK-12 Annual Conference
Fellows Nathan Rabideaux (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and Derek Tucker (Georgia Southern University) share their strategies for communicating with school kids in a recent article on AAAS News. The article provides a detailed review of the conference, the GK-12 program, and the recent funding decision.
Read AAAS News Release.
Posted on April 4, 2011
NYU Poly Fellows and Teachers Use Robotics to Raise Grades
Fellows from the GK-12 project at NYU Polytechnic Institute and teachers at 18 elementary and middle schools in Brooklyn are involving students in a robotics program that is making a difference in math and science grades. The program at the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women is highlighted in an article and video by WABC-TV in New York.
Read about the project and the young scientists.
Link to WABC-TV article and video.
Posted on March 24, 2011
GK-12 Program Cancellation Discussed in SCIENCE
The cancellation of the Graduate STEM Fellows in Education Program by the National Science Foundation is reported on in the March 4 edition of Science. Reporter Jeffrey Mervis interviews GK-12 participants, NSF officials, Carl Wieman, associate director for Science within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Rita Colwell, who launched the GK-12 program shortly after becoming NSF director in 1999.
Read the Science article.
Posted on March 4, 2011
Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation Wins Video Contest
Congratulations to Nick Hanlon and Ken Maxwell, GK-12 fellows at the University of Cincinnati and producers of the grand prize winning video, “Newton’s Universal Laws of Gravitation.” Reviewers representing a range of STEM fields selected four finalists from the twenty videos submitted to the competition sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The four videos were then viewed and voted on during the AAAS Public Science Days Film Festival held during the AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, DC on February 17-21. The winner and finalists with links to their videos are listed below:
Title: “Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation”
Nick Hanlon/Ken Maxwell, University of Cincinnati
Title: “Predators and Prey: The Race for Survival”
Sophie Gilbert, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Title: “Exploding Volcano”
Kerry Riley, Boise State University
Title: “Artificial Intelligence”
Chelsea Sabo , University of Cincinnati
Posted on February 25, 2011
Presentation Boot Camp at GK-12 March Meeting
Within the research and academic communities, there is a growing interest in improving the communication skills of scientists and engineers, especially their ability to communicate the substance and importance of research to non-scientist audiences. This intensive, one-day workshop is a condensed version of the Presentation Boot Camp developed by Dr. Richard Tankersley for Florida Tech’s GK-12 Program (InSTEP). The Boot Camp focuses on proven techniques for presenting scientific and engineering topics and research findings more effectively to both scientific/technical audiences and the general public. Through a series of interactive sessions, participants receive training in planning and preparing presentations that communicate messages more clearly and effectively and that have a lasting impact on the audience. Topics include knowing and identifying the needs of the audience, highlighting big ideas and take-home messages, decoding complex concepts with diagrams, and displaying data in meaningful ways. Attendees will also receive training in the use and application of a protocol and associated rubric for evaluating the effectiveness of scientific presentations.
Click here for more information and to register.
Posted on January 28, 2011
GK-12 Project Teams Meet in DC – March 11-13
In March 2011, GK-12 project teams from 39 states and Puerto Rico traveled to Washington, DC to showcase their efforts to bring STEM research into K-12 classrooms. GK-12 team members shared their best ideas and gained new information through workshops, poster sessions, and networking sessions. An afternoon poster session at the National Science Foundation focused on the graduate students’ STEM research kicked off the meeting on March 11. Presentations and posters from the meeting are provided below.
Graduate Student Research Poster Abstracts [Presented at NSF]
Project Poster Abstracts [Presented at Hyatt Regency]
Posted on January 27, 2011
Southern Miss Fellows Work to Improve Science Literacy of Area High School Students
Graduate Fellows studying polymer science and biology work with teacher-partners at Hattiesburg High and Forrest County Agricultural High School to to provide field experiences for students at the Lake Thoreau Nature Preserve as well as research-related lessons in the classroom.
Read about the work of the University of Southern Mississippi GK-12.
Read the PDF.
Posted on January 20, 2011
Evaluation of GK-12 Program Now Available
The results of the evaluation of the GK-12 program conducted by Abt Associates, Inc. is now available online. This more than 300-page report provides detailed information about the experiences of GK-12 participants over the history of the program, documents the education and early career outcomes of former Fellows, and explores whether there are significant differences in the educational experiences of current Fellows compared to other graduate students in their home departments. It also considers outcomes for the K-12 teachers who participate in the program.
Read the summary. [PDF]
Read the full final report. [PDF]
Posted on November 18, 2010
Young Voices on Climate Change
Lynne Cherry, author and illustrator of books for children, has developed a new project, Young Voices on Climate Change. It is a series of films that highlight students who are developing solutions for stopping global warming. Their work is based on science and data.
Learn about the project and see the films.
Posted on November 10, 2010
